Fifty Cincinnati firefighters have promised to spend the next three months proving how fit they can get.

Straining under sit-ups, Capt. Mike Zimmerman (above) tests his endurance. At right, Joe Rosemeyer runs the treadmill; District Chief Glenn Coleman lifts weights. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        They started Thursday on a new health and wellness pilot project designed to both study the fitness level of the department and convince the city to expand the program to all 800 members of the Cincinnati Fire Department.

        “There aren't many jobs where one minute you can be sitting watching a movie and relaxing and then, a minute later, be throwing a 35-foot ladder up against a wall and picking up a 200-pound person,” said Lt. Paul Alloway, a safety committee member for the Cincinnati Fire Fighters Union who organized the program.

        “The more we're able to be healthy and ready, the better off we're going to be.”

        The firefighters started Thursday with fitness specialists at Mercy Healthplex Anderson. They did push-ups and sit-ups and lifted weights to determine the baseline from which to gauge their improvement in 90 days. They'll learn in individual appointments what their goals should be.

        The project dovetails with increased focus nationally on firefighter health.

CAUSES OF DEATH

Heart attacks and cancer continue to be the leading causes of death for firefighters nationwide:     • In 2001, 39 died on duty from heart attacks — about 9 percent of the total of 441 on-duty deaths. That figure jumps to more than 40 percent, when the 343 firefighter deaths at the World Trade Center in New York City are taken out of the equation.     • Cancer is the No. 1 killer of firefighters overall, with the average age of death in the low 40s.    — Source: U.S. Fire Administration, International Association of Firefighters.

        “We're seeing heart attacks or heart events with career firefighters at relatively low ages,” said Rich Duffy, assistant to the general president of the International Association of Firefighters. “And it's not that they're overweight or in bad health. It's their job.”

        The city and union are splitting the cost of the $5,000 pilot project, but Lt. Alloway hopes the results show the city the benefits of continuing the program and expanding it.

        He started with 120 volunteers, then selected participants so the group of 50 is proportionate in race, gender and age groups to the rest of the fire department. That way, he said, the results of the 50 should reflect what effect the program would have on the entire department.

        “If they can tell us how to strengthen our backs and strengthen our shoulders — things like that — it'll pay dividends,” said Firefighter Tom Marzheuser, 45. “It's either a pay now or pay later kind of thing.”

        Firefighter Doug Stern, 27, admitted he doesn't do much cardio work or stretch before exercising. He's looking forward to improving and learning proper form.

        “It's not easy,” he said, after doing sit-ups and push-ups to the beat of a metronome. “We can all improve at least a little.'
       

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